SD card is suddenly read only (and it never used to be before).

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Level 1

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SD card is suddenly read only (and it never used to be before).

I'm not tech-svvy at all, so I'll try to be as detailed as I can with my problem and hopefully some patient soul will be able to give me some step by step instructions on how to fix this haha.

I've had my MacBook Pro for about a year now and I haven't had a problem with transfering photos from my phone and camera onto it. My camera has an SD card and my phone has a Micro SD.

As of a few days ago, I've noticed that when I insert my SD card into the slot, there's an icon to the top left side of the window when I open it that never used to be there. It kind of looks like a pencil with a line going through it, but it still let me transfer photos to my computer, so I didn't think anything of it.

When I tried to transfer photos from my phone's Micro SD, it does the same thing. I can still transfer pictures to the computer without a problem.

The issue becomes when I want to transfer photos from my computer to the card for my camera or the one for my phone. I've tried to look through similar questions on here and elsewhere on the internet, but all I've been able to gather is that the little pencil with a line through it means my cards are in "Read Only" mode as opposed to the "Read and Write" that they should be in.

I don't recall making any changes to any sort of settings on this computer and I haven't had any recent updates to the software.

Also, none of the cards are locked. I know there's a little swtich to the side of them that manually makes them read only, but I never touch them and they're always 'unlocked' as it were.

Can anyone guide me through getting these settings back to the way they were?

(Since I'm technologically illiterate, I have no idea what operating system I'm on, so I apologize if this is an important factor in helping me.)

MacBook Pro

Posted on Dec 10, 2011 7:47 PM

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Answer 1

Shootist007

Level 6

16,709 points

Dec 10, 2011 8:00 PM in response to yessie_o

The contact inside the SD card slot could be dirty. you can try to clean them by shutting the system down, get some electrical contact cleaner and put a small amount on the SD card contacts and push it in and out a few times. Let it dry for a few minutes (most of these type contact cleaners alcohol based and dry fairly fast) and power up the system. See if the cards are now Read+Write.

Also check the cards to see if the little switch hasn't been pushed into the Lock setting.

Even though these card may work in your camera and or phone they may be at the end of there life cycle. Try a NEW card and see if that makes a difference.

As a last resort you can always buy a external card reader and connect it to a USB port.Some SD cards come with a small SD card reader that plugs directly into a USB port. The only problem I've had with them is that some of them do not go in all the way on MBPs. The case of the MBP stops them from inserting all the way and or if you have something else plugged in to the other USB port there isn't enough room, right to left, to insert another device. Or you could spend some more money and have Apple Care fix it, that is if none of the above work.

Good Luck.

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Answer 2

yessie_o Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 10, 2011 8:02 PM in response to Shootist007

I'll give those a try. Thanks!

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Answer 3

May 16, 2012 3:49 PM in response to yessie_o

I had this same issue with my MacBook Pro and found that it has to do with the little 'write protect' lock switch on the side of the card or adapter.

If the switch is all the way in the unlocked position it would appear as read only, but if I put it about half way between lock and unlock it works as read/write. This also works if the switch is in the fully unlocked position but I don't quite fully insert the card into the slot. Seems there is a sensor in the slot that's not quite calibrated correctly.

Hope that helps!

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Answer 4

Jul 6, 2013 4:37 AM in response to Silicon-Surfer

SS, doesn't matter where the SD card's lock switch is, I cannot get the MBP to read/write an SD card, always read only. All cards work fine in the iMac.

Is there a manual way of holding the switch down in the SD slot?

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